Random Facts about Cardboard Boxes

Random Fact Number One: there are thousands of different types of cardboard boxes! Cereal boxes, cake boxes, even jewelry boxes- they are all made of the same material (just in different thicknesses and consistencies), essentially making them all part of the same family.

“ “ Number Two: cardboard boxes were first invented at the beginning of the 19th century. Which is totally crazy. It hadn’t even been twenty years since the 1700s! It had barely been fifty years since the Revolutionary War. The 1700s still seem like the Stone Ages to me, but they were actually during a time when technology was really starting to grow. And it hasn’t stopped since. So much has changed in the past two hundred years, in comparison to the past ten thousand. It’s ridiculous.

“ “ Three: At the end of the 1800s, some major companies began to use cardboard boxes for packaging their food, which changed dramatically. Most of our food comes in boxes, right? A lot of foods weren’t even packaged back in the day, and using cardboard has really revolutionized the whole food shopping experience in general.

“ “ Four: During this same period, but more towards the beginning of the 20th century, people were starting to use cardboard for shipping things, replacing wooden crates. Can you imagine if we still use wooden crates when sending off a package to our friends or family? We wouldn’t be doing it that often, I can tell you that much.

“ “ Five: In 2004, an architect by the name of Peter Ryan, from Melbourne, made his own design and then built a house made from cardboard boxes. Better yet, the house was livable! Ryan’s intentions were to develop a type of home for areas recently destroyed by a disaster. Not sure how well the idea took off, but it was certainly a good one.

“ “ Six: Perhaps no one loves cardboard boxes as much as the French. Why would I make such a statement? They have an entire museum devoted to them, called Musee Du Cartonnage et de I’Imprimerie. I don’t have a whole more to say on this very interesting topic because everything I tried to find out was written completely in French. I don’t even know what the name of the museum means, but if I had to guess I would think it had something to do with Museum of Cartons and the Printing (but I googled the last word).